3. (Physiol.) Of, pertaining to, or produced by, stimulus or excitation
without the necessary intervention of consciousness.
Reflex action (Physiol.), any action performed involuntarily in
consequence of an impulse or impression transmitted along afferent
nerves to a nerve center, from which it is reflected to an efferent
nerve, and so calls into action certain muscles, organs, or cells. --
Reflex nerve (Physiol.), an excito-motory nerve. See Exito- motory.
Re"flex (r?"fl?ks; formerly r?*fl?ks"), n. [L. reflexus a bending back.
See Reflect.] 1. Reflection; the light reflected from an illuminated
surface to one in shade.
Yon gray is not the morning's eye, 'Tis but the pale reflex of
Cynthia's brow.
Shak.
On the depths of death there swims The reflex of a human face.
Tennyson.